Two gold, two bronze wrap up fine day for Malta

Malta's track and field athletes yesterday wrapped up a fantastic opening day for the country after they added two gold and two bronze medals which increased our tally at the end of the day to seven medals.

After the triumphs of Michael Fiteni and Dianne Desira at the Marsa SC squash courts, it was the turn of Tanya Blake and Carol Galea to double Malta's gold medals with convincing wins in the 800m and the 10,000m respectively.

Ricky Baldacchino and Darren Gilford turned in notable performances in the 5,000 and 100m races which yielded two other third-place finishes.

Blake started the evening in style, winning the first gold medal of the 2003 Games while retaining her 800m title with a modest time of 2:07.21.

This was the second consecutive GSSE that Malta had secured the first gold medal at stake. In 2001, the honour went to cyclist David Millar who had mesmerised all opponents in the time-trial.

Blake was streets ahead of her rivals in the 800m race. She took a clear-cut lead after the first lap and managed to control her advantage till the end. Anne Christofidou, of Cyprus, took silver, in 2:09.04, while Luxembourg's Martine Nobili had to settle for bronze in 2:09.67.

"This is a true honour for me to win another gold in these Games for Malta," Blake said after being presented with her medal by MOC president Lino Farrugia Sacco.

"I would have been happier had I clocked a faster time but the wind was blowing really strong... it was not possible to register a good time. However, the most important thing today was to win the race and I'm glad to have this precious medal hanging around my neck again."

Convincing Carol

The most convincing victory on the day was achieved by Carol Galea who completely dominated her 10km race. Galea was in a class of her own and completed the distance in 36:13.47. Incidentally, this time was two minutes slower than her GSSE 2001 time when she had finished second. But this did not tarnish Galea's joy.

"This gold medal is something I wanted to achieve with all my heart. This title has been eluding me for a long time. Now, I am happy to have won it in front of my children and my coach," an emotional Galea said.

"My last gold medal in these Games was in Iceland when I won the 5,000m race. I took to the track determined to give my all because I wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it. Now the pressure is off and my intention is to celebrate this success with my children. Perhaps, my rigorous training schedule ahead of these Games kept me a little away from them but now we'll mark this success together."

Malta's chef-de-mission Pippo Psaila presented the medal to Galea who has now increased her overall tally to eight GSSE medals - two gold, three silver and three bronze.

Baldacchino produced an astonishing comeback in the 5,000m to finish third after completing the distance in 14.35.52. He completed the race behind Andorra duo Toni Bernardo, 14:29.93, and Joan Ramon Moya, 14:31.51.

Baldacchino seemed out of the reckoning for a medal after slipping to seventh place midway through the race. But, he suddenly sprang into life in the final kilometre, stepping up a gear to battle his way to third place.

"This medal is a just reward for the huge sacrifices I did in the past 12 months. For the last year or so I decided to dedicate myself completely to athletics because I wanted to win a medal in these Games," Baldacchino said.

"Thanks to the assistance I received from the MOC I had some effective altitude training in the Italian mountains. It seems that was the tonic I needed to surge home for this medal."

Gilford was the other bronze medalist on the day at the Marsa track. The 20-year-old sprinter set a new national mark of 10.56 to place behind Cypriot duo Anninos Marcoullides (10.38s) and Anthimos Rotos (10.44s).

Rashid Chouhal was undone by a sloppy start as he finished a disappointing eighth in 11.33s.

"This medal is a huge surprise for me because my main goal here was to book a place in the final," Gilford said.

"However, I felt really good today and I knew I could give it a shot for a place on the podium. Setting a new national mark for the 100m fills me with more pride and certainly boosts my confidence ahead of the 4x100m event. My Bulgarian coach Jivko Jetchev, and my parents, were the inspirational force behind this medal because without their support I wouldn't be celebrating today."

The women's sprint was won by another Cypriot, Marilia Gregogiou. She clocked 11.67 - a new record for the Games. Iceland duo Sunna Gestsdottir (12.02) and Silj Ulfessdottir (12.24) took silver and bronze respectively. Malta's Celine Pace was fifth in 12.38 ahead of Sue Spiteri, 12.60.

Luxembourg's David Fiegen won the men's 800m race when completing the distance in 1.51.52. Const Hadjimarcou was second (1:52.17) ahead of Andorra's Victor Martinez (1:52.66). Mark Herrera was seventh (1:57.97) ahead of Fabio Spiteri (2:00.01).

Manoel Pulis placed sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 14.47m improving his personal best by half-a-metre. The event was won by Stelios Kapsalis of Cyprus (15.20m), ahead of compatriot Stelios Petrout (15.07m).

Alexandra Klatsia, of Cyprus, won the discus with a throw of 41.38m. She finished ahead of Iceland's Asdis Hylmdoittir and Halla Hemisdottir. Malta's Jennifer Pace Hickey was fourth (31.42m) ahead of Antonella Cachia (28.78m).

Nicky Camilleri placed sixth in the shot putt final, won by Cypriot George Aresti ahead of team-mate Petros Mitsides and Iceland's Odimm Thorstansson.

At the end of the day, Malta finished top in the men's aggregate event ahead of Cyprus and Iceland. Cyprus are leading the women's class with 51 points ahead of Malta (33) and Andorra (32).